GIFT WORKS OF ART

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 79, 27 December 1928, Page 10

GIFT WORKS OF ART

AUCKLAND ACQUISITIONS GENEROSITY OF MR. MOSS DAVIS Most of the paintings and sculptures lately presented to the citizens of Auckland by Mr. Moss Davis have been placed on view in the city art gallery (says the “New Zealand Herald”). Many years have passed since Mr. Davis left Auckland to reside in London, but lie still has a warm affection for the city and its people. This feeling lie has expressed in a tangible form by giving to Auckland a considerable collection of works of art and historical relics. The gifts have a double value, in that such things are rare in a young country and help to develop an aesthetic as well as an historic sense. It has often been said that Europe should not grudge the exportation of old masters to publie galleries in America, because in new communities any link with the art and history of past ages is of incalculable value. The same is true of New Zealand. The new benefaction is a reminder that the Auckland gallery is already much indebted to Mr. Davis’s generosity. Seven or eight years ago, when the late Dr. Leys visited . him in London, Mr. Davis presented the gallery with a landscape in oils, “The Water Mill,” a characteristic work by E. A. Waterlow, showing one of the most pleasant aspects of the English countryside. In 1926 he surprised the authorities by sending several large pictures, including “The Spirit of the Summit,” by Lord Leighton, which attracts the attention of every visitor to the gallery. In the consignment were also a fine eighteenth-century portrait of a girl by Sir William Beechey, a large unfinished cartoon by Sir Edward BurneJones, a religious painting attributed to Murillo, and a bust of Napoleon by Thorwaldsen.

Statuary forms a large part of the new collection. What will please the average visitor most is an excellent modern bronze statuette of Robert Burns, about 2ft. 6in. high, by Herbert Hampton. It is a spirited piece of work and apparently a good likeness of the poet. The statuette has been given a place of honour in the centre of the group of bronzes formed a year or so ago. A marble statue in the classical manner, representing a woman adjusting the folds of her chiton, or outer robe, is attributed to Alfred Stevens. Three marble busts by W. Theed (1804-91) have been accommodated in the square room which was formerly the city council chamber. One is a copy of the head of the Apollo Belvidere, another represents Minerva wearing a tall helmet, and the third, of heroic size, is that of a woman with a Greek circlet about her hair. All are typical works of the classical revival led l>y Canova, Flaxman Thorwaldsen and others in the earlier part of the last century. Another marble bust represents Lord Nelson. It has been placed as the centre of a group of Nelson relics. These include three engravings after B. West, A. W. Devis and J. W. M. Turner respectively, the first two representing the death of Nelson and the ■ third H.M.S. Victory at Trafalgar. All are framed in oak from the Victory. There is also a painting of the famous ship similarly framed.

A small bronze equestrian statuette of the Duke of Wellington, made about 40 years ago and apparently a miniature of a statue in London, will be placed in the library. _ .... Space has been found in the library vestibule for two engravings by A. Blanchard of typical paintings by SilLawrence Alma-Tadema. The frames are believed to have been designed by the painter and certainly harmonise excellently with the subjects. . The historical relics are of real interest and value. These include a letter written by Lord Nelson on board the Victory on March 28, 1805, and a signature from a letter subscribed “On board the Agamemnon, May 19th, 1790.” The latter is written with the right hand, which Nelson lost at Teneriffe in I<9(. The contrast between the two handwritings is very marked; Even more interesting is a seal, about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and inscribed with the letters, N. & B” (Nelson and Bronte), upon a medallion surmounted by a crown, with crossed anchors behind. The seal and its large handle are cut from a single piece _ot rock crystal. According to information received by Mr. Moss Davis, Nelson wrote to Lady Hamilton in 1804, mentioning he had 'lost his seal, which was of silver. She accordingly had a new one made of crystal, and gave it to him on his return to England. There are also two holograph letters bv the Duke of Wellington, dated respectively 1814 and 1823, and five signatures of Napoleon, some as First Consul and soma as Emperor. The documents will find a place with others in the section of the library which houses the Grey and Shaw collections, and which already contains manuscripts of great rarity and historical value. _ Other items include a complete set of Edward VII gold and silver coinage, from a silver penny to a £5 piece, and a set of George V silver coinage, from 3d. to ss. These, with a volume of plates illustrating Cook’s voyages, of which the library already has two copies, will be deposited in the Auckland Museum. A pencil drawing by Alan Stapleton of Captain Cook’s birthplace at Leigh-on-Sea and a photographic copy of his marriage certificate, will be hung near a portrait of Cook in the Old Colonists’ Museum. ’■